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Interview with Jim Rimer, founder of Bi-O-Kleen Natural Cleaning Products
Interviewer: Bi-O-Kleen has been in the natural products industry since 1990. What was the impetus to develop a natural household cleaning products company?
Rimer: I really believe the philosophy for the company began when I was a boy. In grade school, I would play near the neighborhood river in Oregon. It was smelly and full of dead fish and eels. Later, I realized that there was a paper mill upstream. One day I was filmed eating lunch in the school lunchroom while DDT was being sprayed. The point of the film was to show that DDT was safe around children! These experiences stayed with me.
Then as an adult, in 1989, I was a sales representative in the industrial chemical cleaning industry. It became obvious that the chemicals that I was selling caused the health problems of my customers. I was selling poison and this realization shook me to the core.
Frankly, I was so horrified that I threw myself into studying and interviewing chemists. Through trial and error, I formulated a cleaner out of natural ingredients that was powerfully effective. I told my customers the truth about the chemicals I had sold them and gave them my new creation. That is how we started: one natural product at a time. Now we have 18!
Interviewer: You manufacture your own formulas, in your own plant in the U.S. How? Why?
Rimer: I strive for perfection in my products. This is the only way I can be confident that my ingredients are what I say they are and that I can oversee quality control. Sure, it is more expensive to manufacture in the U.S., but I think it is important to support U.S. jobs and the economy.
Interviewer: What are your criteria in developing your formulas? Many companies say their products are natural.
Rimer: Yes, you are right, but this is what makes us different: we create products that EXCEED green standards set for natural cleaning products. We do not wait for an ingredient to be deemed harmful. We work hard to find the right natural ingredients in safe percentages for the environment and the health of all living things. We truly list all our ingredients and we do not add anything that is not necessary. It is not environmental to mislead. A lot of critical, scientific thinking goes into our choice of ingredients and processes.
Interviewer: You go the extra mile to verify your standards. Please explain.
Rimer: We are the only manufacturer of natural cleaning products that holds Third-Party Certification. Our certifier, an OSHA trained advisor and chemist, has keys to the plant. He inspects at any time to verify our ingredients and processes.
Unified Green Cleaning Alliance sets green standards for commercial products. We go beyond these standards. Additionally, we are in partnership with the Design for the Environment Program, an arm of the EPA who we have assisted with developing tough green guidelines. We also sell to the U.S. National Park System whose green standards are exceptionally high.
Currently, we are working with Content Verified, Inc., a group that verifies that our products are compatible with the NOP Organic Standards. This has enormous implications as most manufacturers of organic food and personal care products may be using cleaning products may that interfere with their compliance to the Organic Standards as outlined in the NOP. We will be the first company offering such products to this important segment of the industry!
No other natural cleaning products company holds these credentials. One cannot respect nature if you cannot respect the truth. I just cannot compromise my standards; consequently, Bi-O-Kleen offers the most effective, highly concentrated and truly 'clean' cleaners available.
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